Dick Lugar, Richard Mourdock bury hatchet

Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar and the man who unseated him in a bitter Republican primary, Richard Mourdock, have apparently buried the hatchet.

In an act rife with symbolism, Lugar graciously introduced Mourdock — the tea party-backed state treasurer who ended Lugar’s four-decade reign in the Senate — during a closed-door meeting of Senate Republicans on Tuesday.

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Their May primary contest was contentious, with Mourdock painting the two-time Foreign Relations Committee chairman as a Washington insider who had lost touch with his native Hoosier State (Lugar and his wife sold their Indianapolis home and moved to the Washington, D.C. area in 1977).

After his Election Night defeat, Lugar congratulated Mourdock in front of the cameras but issued a blistering critique of the nominee in writing.

“If Mr. Mourdock is elected, I want him to be a good Senator. But that will require him to revise his stated goal of bringing more partisanship to Washington. …” Lugar wrote in a 1,425-word statement. “This is not conducive to problem solving and governance. And he will find that unless he modifies his approach, he will achieve little as a legislator.”

But upon learning Mourdock would be dropping by Tuesday’s GOP luncheon, Lugar asked National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn if he could personally introduce Mourdock. Mourdock repaid the favor, praising the 80-year-old Lugar’s lifetime of public service to Indiana and the country.

“My own comments on the night of the election were that I asked Hoosiers to support Treasurer Mourdock,” Lugar told POLITICO in a brief interview after the lunch. “I indicated I would be very pleased to have the opportunity to introduce him.”

While it’s customary for Senate leaders to invite newly-nominated candidates to attend weekly policy lunches, Lugar’s gesture signified that the GOP is unified behind Mourdock as he heads into the November general election against Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly.

During the lunch in the Senate’s Lyndon B. Johnson room, Mourdock was seated between Lugar and Indiana’s other senator, Republican Dan Coats. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus sat on the other side of Lugar.

“As I said to [the senators] in my response, those of us from Indiana often wonder what it means to be a Hoosier, what does that word mean?” Mourdock said.

“And I’ve come to think that being a Hoosier means you always have great hospitality, you have an enormity of grace about you and you’re always looking to the future with a sense of optimism, and [Lugar] displayed all those things today.

“He’s a great Hoosier,” Mourdock added.

Coats said Tuesday’s display of Hoosier hospitality represented not only a symbolic but also a practical step forward for the party.

“It was a very important symbol of how we’ve come together to support a Republican running for office,” Coats told POLITICO. “I’ve gotten the sense that Senator Lugar has reached out to him in friendship, and Richard has acknowledged receipt of that, and I’m very pleased with what took place today.”

Reince is hanging with the GOP Senators in a Senate room eating lunch. On whose dime? Doesn't look like official business or actually creating jobs. So what are these illustrious and backing slapping white men doing?

Oh that's right, they are very hospitable when using other peoples funds, but to help someone else, not so much. McConnell called to repeal ACA, again. How many original bills that do not cut or repeal something have the GOP actually passed? They passed 32 job bills in the House that do not create jobs and the Ryan "dismember the social safety net and fabric of society" Plan that adds more debt and more tax breaks and less regulations. What a K(r)och of manure.